The Jackson Zoo and Livingston Park in Jackson, Mississippi, both sit across the street from abandoned buildings, flanked by a cemetery and an overgrown YMCA building. Rather than be satisfied with the area’s current state, city administrators hope that through renovations, the campus will become a destination similar to Flores Park or the Children’s Museum.
In that effort, the City of Jackson is looking for community input on potential improvements and additions at Livingston Park and the Jackson Zoo in West Jackson, city representatives said in a press conference on April 24.
“We acknowledge this in West Jackson, we acknowledge there are challenges—but we’re proud of this area and we think this area can become an oasis,” Jackson City Administrator Pieter Teeuwissen said at the press conference, which was held in the park.
Cleaning Up the Area
Residents have expressed concerns about traveling to the area surrounding Jackson Zoo and Livingston Park, which are both in Jackson’s West Park neighborhood, an area with one of the highest crime rates in the city.
“The first thing we need to do is stress to the public (that) your zoo is safe,” Teeuwissen said. “Livingston Park is safe.”
“I know there’s been some concern over the years as this part of the city has had some population decline and also some structural challenges,” Teeuwissen said during the press conference. “If you went on Capital Street today, though, you’ll see where the city has paved part of Capital Street, upgraded sidewalks and is starting to remove dilapidated structures around the zoo…and we’re enjoying the best golf participation that the city has ever had in this golf course…close to where this zoo is.”
The abandoned homes demolished by the city are on Capital Street between Bobby Rush Boulevard and Interstate 220, Teeuwissen said. The intersection of Bobby Rush Boulevard is the closest major intersection to the Jackson Zoo.
The City of Jackson is also working to remove dead trees from Livingston Park and some of the surrounding area in partnership with Jackson State University, Teeuwissen told the Mississippi Free Press. The project is being funded by a United States Department of Agriculture grant.
Plans for Improvements
While the Jackson Zoo and Livingston Park campus already houses amenities like an 18-hole disc golf course, a splash pad and a trail system—alongside public bathroom facilities and a gated parking lot—the city already has more improvements planned, including for Livingston Lake, which is adjacent to Livingston Park.
“It’s obvious that we need to dredge that lake over there, and we need to be able to put kayaking, paddle boats back out there … (and) restock that so we can allow fishing,” Teeuwissen said, noting that the city has 120 acres of wiggle room to decide what’s best to include in the park.
Teeuwissen believes Jackson may be able to use infrastructure modernization funds to dredge the lake, he told the Mississippi Free Press, but some projects for the park—like a new pavilion by the lake—are already budgeted for.
The pavilion, which will also serve as an amphitheater, will have concrete seating and be available for event rentals, Jackson City Council Vice President Vernon Hartley told the Mississippi Free Press on April 24.
A potential virtual zoo program and the construction of a Children’s Zoo are among other potential improvements to the property.
“If the city gets the money to build the Children’s Zoo, that would be a high priority—a lot of domestic animals and some maybe capybara, maybe wallabies, maybe non-exotic (animals),” Jackson Zoo Deputy Director Dan Wetzel told the Mississippi Free Press on April 24.
While city administrators didn’t discuss potential swimming in the park, Jackson residents once once enjoyed Livingston Park’s lake—alongside its then-bathhouse—as a popular swimming destination during Mississippi’s hot summers, according to local newspaper archives. It was only closed to public swimming in 1963—alongside every other public swimming spot operated by the city—due to resistance against racial integration of swimming pools, the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court case Palmer v. Thompson said.
Cost-saving Measures
While the new pavilion is already budgeted for—and city administration appears hopeful about funding options for other proposed projects—Jackson is still in a budget deficit and seeking cost-saving measures alongside improvements for the parks.
One of these cost-saving measures includes shrinking the zoo’s footprints, but not by getting rid of any animals.
“The smaller physical area you have to maintain, the less costly it should be—that’s what we mean by strengthening footprint,” Teeuwissen told the Mississippi Free Press, explaining that just moving animal exhibits closer together, rather than leaving empty exhibits in between, should help lower operational costs.
The Jackson Zoo includes seven endangered species, in addition to a variety of other animals on display: a pygmy hippopotamus, a southern white rhinoceros, a Grevy’s zebra, a red ruffed Lemur, an Asiatic black bear, Sumatran tiger, eastern black and white colobuses and white-handed gibbons.
“We realize that Jackson is never going to be the type of place that has dozens of large animals…that are expensive to maintain, but there’s a right mix of animals—large animals, butterflies, reptiles and other amenities—that would serve our area just as well,” Teeuwissen said.
Replacing nighttime personnel with a park ranger is another proposed cost saving measure and would save the city approximately $45,000 per year, Jackson City Council Vice President Vernon Hartley said at the April 24 press conference. Hartley represents Jackson’s Ward 5, which includes Livingston Park and the Jackson Zoo.
